Thursday, March 21, 2013

I was intrigued by David Cole's entry last Saturday about how the internet and technology figures large in modern mysteries, and it behooves a mystery novelist to educate herself on the subject.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I am in the process of writing my first mystery novel with a modern setting. My six previous published mysteries are all set in the American Southwest at the beginning of the 20th Century, and as I work on this contemporary story, I realize that I'm dealing with an entirely different species of literature. I've heard authors say that they think writing historical mysteries is more difficult than contemporary, but I beg to differ?

Not for me. Of course, I have already garnered quite an education about pre-World War I Oklahoma in the course of writing six books (Seven and a half, really. They have not all seen the light of day.) When it comes to Twenty-first Century crime solving techniques, I am starting from scratch.

1. I learned almost immediately that even if I'm not writing a police procedural, police procedure is going to be involved. No one in the present-day United States is going to get himself murdered without the police showing up and doing what police do unless the author undertakes all sorts of gyrations to place the victim, suspects, and sleuth outside of normal society.

2. The world used to be a much bigger place than it is now. The resources available to the local lawman in 1913 Oklahoma were much less sophisticated than they were for a Detective Inspector in 1913 London. In 2013, the Scottsdale Police Department has the same access to technology as Scotland Yard.

3. It's infinitely more difficult for an author to isolate someone in a contemporary novel. She has to figure out some way to make that cell phone unusable and/or make the wifi connection go down.

4. All novelists worth their salt try to be authentic and not make mistakes. But when writing a contemporary novel, it's not as easy to elide over verifiable facts. If you give your Des Moines cop the wrong kind of firearm, fifty readers will call you on it. If you give your Eleventh Century Welsh bowman the wrong kind of fletching on his arrows, the one guy in the world who could correct you probably won't be reading your mystery anyway.

5. As the writer, I'm not as interested in the crime solving procedure as I am in the effect of the murder on the characters. But if I'm going to create a realistic world that my readers can enter without being constantly taken out of the story by inaccuracies, I'd better do my best to portray what really happens in 2013 when someone is murdered.

And on that note I must leave you, because tonight is my third class at the Scottsdale Citizen's Police Academy. We're learning about computer crime.

Thanks for wishing me luck, Judith and all. And J, I was very glad to find that Citizen's Police Academies abound. Sadly the one in the town I live in was cut for budgetary reasons, but Scottsdale is close enough. Besides, I hope to set the new book in Scottsdale.

My mysteries are set in the 1990s, so my amateur sleuth isn't pulling out his cellphone every time he's in trouble or needs a fact. He does things the hard way! I'm careful with police proceduals but DNA testing and the like wasn't as sophisticated then so I have some leeway. You're right, though, with historicals your readers might not pick up on minute errors. Good luck with your new story!

If you give your Des Moines cop the wrong kind of firearm, fifty readers will call you on it. If you give your Eleventh Century Welsh bowman the wrong kind of fletching on his arrows, the one guy in the world who could correct you probably won't be reading your mystery anyway.

Trust me, you'll still get called over making that mistake with the fletching. Plus your author credibility will go straight down the garderobe shaft on all the discussion groups and book review blogs that specialize in historicals. :-)

Aline Templeton Writes on alternate Mondays

Vicki Delany writes on alternate Mondays

Rick Blechta writes on Tuesdays

Barbara Fradkin writes on alternate Wednesdays

Sybil Johnson writes on Alternate Wednesdays

John Corrigan writes on alternate Thursdays

Donis Casey writes on alternate Thursdays

Frankie Bailey writes on Alternate Fridays

Charlotte Hinger writes on alternate Fridays

Mario Acevedo writes on the 4th Saturday of each month

Aline Templeton

Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh in a house with a balcony overlooking the beautiful city skyline. Her series featuring DI Marjory Fleming is set in beautiful Galloway, in South-west Scotland. alinetempleton.co.uk

Eva Gates/Vicki Delany

Eva Gates is the author of the Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin Obsidian, set in a historic lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, featuring Boston-transplant librarian, and highly reluctant sleuth, Lucy Richardson. The first in the series, By Book or By Crook, will be released in February 2015. Eva is the pen name of bestselling author Vicki Delany, one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. Eva can be found at www.lighthouselibrarymysteries.com and Vicki at www.vickidelany.com.

Rick Blechta

Rick has two passions in life, mysteries and music, and his thrillers contain liberal doses of both. He has two upcoming releases, Roses for a Diva, his sequel to The Fallen One, for Dundurn Press, and for Orca’s Rapid Reads series, The Boom Room, a second book featuring detectives Pratt & Ellis. You can learn more about what he’s up to at www.rickblechta.com. From the musical side, Rick leads a classic soul band in Toronto. Check out SOULidifiedband.com. And lastly, being a former line cook with an interest in all things culinary, he has a blog dedicated to food: A Man for All Seasonings.

Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. Her dark short stories haunt the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, but she is best known for her award-winning series featuring the quixotic, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, published by Dundurn Press. The ninth book, The Whisper of Legends, was published in April 2013. Visit Barbara at barbarafradkin.com.

Sybil Johnson

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family. Find her at www.authorsybiljohnson.com.

John R Corrigan

John R. Corrigan is D.A. Keeley, author of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Peyton Cote series, which is set along the Maine-Canada border. Bitter Crossing (summer 2014) will be the first of at least three novels in the series. Born in Augusta, Maine, he lives with his wife and three daughters at Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts, where he is English department chair, a teacher, a hockey coach, and may very well be the only mystery writer in North America who also serves as a dorm parent to 50 teenage girls. A Mainer through and through, he tries to get to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as often as possible. You can see what he's up to by visiting www.amazon.com/author/DAKeeley or dakeeleyauthor.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@DAKeeleyAuthor).

Donis Casey

Donis is the author of six Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Her award-winning series, featuring the sleuthing mother of ten children, is set in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer. The latest Alafair Tucker novel, The Wrong Hill to Die On (Poisoned Pen Press, 2012), is available in paper or electronic format wherever books are sold. Readers can enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site at www.doniscasey.com.

Frankie Bailey

Frankie Y. Bailey is a criminal justice professor who focuses on crime, history, and American culture. Her current project is a book about dress, appearance, and criminal justice. Her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart is set mainly in the South. Her near-future police procedural series featuring Detective Hannah McCabe is set in Albany, New York. Visit Frankie at frankieybailey.com.

Charlotte Hinger

Charlotte Hinger is a novelist and Western Kansas historian. Convinced that mystery writing and historical investigation go hand in hand, she now applies her MA in history to academic articles and her depraved imagination to the Lottie Albright series for Poisoned Pen Press. charlottehinger.com

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez detective-vampire series. His short fiction is included in the anthologies, You Don’t Have A Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens and Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in Modern Drunkard Magazine. Mario lives with a dog in Denver, CO. His website is marioacevedo.com.